Online Product Exchange System and Methods

ABSTRACT

An exchange system for facilitating the purchase of new cars is described. The system is coupled, in one embodiment, to a communications link. Potential car purchasers and sellers may access the exchange system via the network, and submit offers and/or pricing requests to such system. In response to the requests, the system processor retrieves the stored data from the respective databases, and causes such data to be transmitted to the local site for display. The exchange systems also executes certain functions in response to commands and data transmitted from buyer sites, dealer sites and institution sites.

CROSS-REFERENCED RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/530,873, pending,which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/550,455, filed Oct.30, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,133,835, which is a continuation-in-partof Ser. No. 08/512,365, filed Aug. 8, 1995, now abandoned.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to vehicle purchase systems, andmore particularly, to an exchange system accessible via a communicationsnetwork which facilitates the purchase of new vehicles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

When purchasing a product, a purchaser must first determine whichproduct, including brand name, model, color and other features, bestmeets his needs. Once the purchaser has an established interest inpurchasing a particular product, the purchaser typically visits, inperson or by telephone, a few stores that sell the product to determinethe best price. Once the best price is determined, all things beingequal, the purchaser usually buys from the store selling this particularproduct at the best price.

Although visiting a dealer generally is a necessary element of the carpurchasing process, many potential purchasers do not enjoy meeting witha sales person and having to negotiate a purchase. For example, apotential purchaser may want to first ascertain the various options andprices before discussing a purchase with a sales person.

In addition, visiting a dealer requires the purchaser to set aside atleast a few hours of time. Even after visiting a dealer, however, thepotential purchaser may not be totally comfortable in making apurchasing decision. For example, the purchaser may want to visit anumber of other dealers to determine a competitive price for theparticular car of interest. The purchaser, therefore, may visit a numberof dealers that are within a reasonable distance from the purchaser'sresidence. Visiting many dealers usually requires a significant amountof time. It is not unusual for a potential purchaser to spend weeksvisiting various dealers in an attempt to understand and locate tie bestdeal.

Further, once a purchaser identifies a particular car, the purchaserthen typically attempts to negotiate the best price from the dealer.These negotiations, for many purchasers, are the most difficult steps inthe car purchasing process. Further, when coupled with options, factoryinvoice, advertised specials and volume buyer discounts, thesenegotiations may become complex and confusing.

In an attempt to assist car purchasers in the purchase of a new car,many types of services have been created. For example, magazines providepotential purchasers with detailed information regarding particularcars. Some services provide a wide variety of information accessiblethrough a computer network such as Internet.

Known magazines and systems, however, generally do not fully facilitatenegotiating the car price. For example, although the purchaser may bebetter informed, in general, about a particular car as a result ofreviewing a particular magazine source, the purchaser may not beprovided with the price or the detailed information with respect to carsreadily available within a specific geographic region. In addition, inknown magazines and “on-line” services, all pricing information islimited to “list” price and “invoice” price, and possibly a suggesteddiscount percentage. Further, such systems do not provide a mechanism toallow a potential purchaser to “lock in” a final purchase price. Also,such magazines and systems do not eliminate the negotiation process andin some instances in which unrealistic expectations are created, mayeven make the negotiations more difficult.

Accordingly, it would be desirable and advantageous to provide a carexchange system which enables a potential car purchaser to easily andquickly review all options, factory discounts and other informationregarding specific car configurations of interest in combination withfinal pricing information for cars in a particular geographic region. Italso would be desirable and advantageous to eliminate the car purchasenegotiation process by providing an exchange system which enables apotential car purchaser to ascertain the best price for a particular carand to “lock in” to a specific dealer offer via the system withouthaving to make prior direct contact with a particular dealer.

An object of the present invention is to simplify and reduce the timerequired, for both the buyer and seller, in completing a vehicle salestransaction.

Another object of the present invention is to enable potentialpurchasers to quickly and easily ascertain dealer offers for the sale ofcars in a particular geographic region of interest.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a carexchange system which enables a potential car purchaser to easily andquickly review all options, factory discounts and other informationregarding specific car configurations of interest in combination withfinal pricing information for cars in a particular geographic region.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an exchangesystem which enables a potential car purchaser to ascertain the bestprice for a particular car and to “lock in” to a specific dealer offervia the system without having to make prior direct contact with aparticular dealer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects and advantages are achieved by a car exchangesystem which includes, in one embodiment, a file server having aplurality of databases storing specific information related to carsoffered for sale by dealers. The exchange system further includes aprocessor coupled to the databases and programmed to perform certaintasks in response to price inquiries, special requests, offers to sell,offers to buy and acceptance of such offers.

Specifically, the exchange system is coupled to a communications link,such as the telephone lines or the Internet. A potential car purchasermay access, from a remote site, the exchange system via the network, andsubmit requests to such system. In response to some requests, the systemprocessor retrieves stored data from the respective databases, andcauses such data to be transmitted to the remote site for display. Theexchange system also executes certain functions in response to commandsand data transmitted from dealer sites and institution sites, e.g.,banks or other lenders. The system enables a potential purchaser to, forexample, browse the offers in a particular geographic region for theparticular car and options of interest and to lock-in to a particularoffer to sell.

The system described above enables a potential car purchaser to easilyand quickly review all final pricing information for a variety of carsand configurations in a particular geographic region. In addition, suchsystem eliminates, if desired by the buyer, the negotiation process byenabling a potential car purchaser to “lock in” a specific dealer offervia the system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system architecture for a system in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating the tasks performed byeach hardware block shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates the system database structure for the systemillustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 illustrates a sequence of steps executed by one embodiment of theexchange system as part of the car purchasing process.

FIG. 5 illustrates the various administrative tasks performed by theexchange system.

FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of a sequence of process stepsexecuted to access the exchange system.

FIG. 7 illustrates a sequence of process steps to be performed inconnection with creating a dealer account in the exchange system.

FIG. 8 illustrates the process steps executed in connection withupdating configuration data stored in the configuration database of thesystem.

FIG. 9 illustrates the sequence of process steps executed in loadingdealer offers into a system database.

FIG. 10 illustrates a sequence of process steps associated withexecuting offers to buy and special requests.

FIG. 11 illustrates a sequence of process steps associated with enablinga dealer to review/update prior offers contained in the offer to selldatabase of the system.

FIG. 12 illustrates a sequence of process steps executed in connectionwith acknowledgement of acceptance of an offer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system architecture for a system 20 which includesa communications network 22 having multiple branches 24A-B. Network 22may, for example, be a wide area network such as the network known as“Internet” or may be one of many other types of networks. Accordingly,although one embodiment of the present invention is described below inthe context of a network such as Internet, it should be understood thatthe present invention may be used in connection with many other types ofcommunications networks.

One embodiment of an exchange system 26 is illustrated in FIG. 1 asbeing coupled to network 22 via a multi-line communications control androuter 28. System 26 includes, for example, a file server having aprocessor and memory storage. Such file servers are commerciallyavailable, such as the IBM RS-600 or HP-9000. Databases 30A-B and 32 areillustrated as forming a part of system 26. Databases 30A-B and 32would, for example, be part of the memory storage of the file server.

Administration database 30A is utilized for storing data related totasks executed by system 26. Configurations database 30B stores datarelated to specific car configurations which may be accessed, vianetwork 22, from remote sites. Database 32 includes a price inquiriesdatabase 34A, an offer to buy and special request database 34B, anaccepted offers database 34C and an offers to sell (“prices”) database34D. A plurality of personal computers such as personal computers 36Aand 36B are coupled to system 26 via a local area network (LAN) toenable access to system 26 without requiring access to network 22.

Buyer sites 38 and dealer sites 40 are shown as being coupled to branch24B of network 22. Particularly, potential buyers, through personalcomputers and modems 42A and 42B, may access exchange system 26 vianetwork 22. Similarly, dealers, through personal computers and modems44A and 44B, may access exchange system 26 via network 22. Of course,the functions performed by system 26 for such buyers and dealers aredifferent, as explained hereinafter in more detail.

Institution sites 46 are shown as being coupled to branch 24A of network22. Such institutions may include lending institutions such as banks.Institutions may access exchange system 26 through modem 48, coupled toa file server 50 having a car buying service accounts database 52, andvia personal computers 54A and 54B. Account information for carpurchases made by buyers at buyer sites 38 via system 26 may be storedin database 52.

It should be understood, of course, that the architecture illustrated inFIG. 1 may vary depending upon the network utilized, Also, manyadditional buyer sites 38, dealer sites 40 and institution sites 46 maybe coupled to system 26. Further, a geographic area such as a country,e.g., the United States of America, could be divided into regions withseparate systems 26 serving such regions.

FIG. 2 illustrates, for sites 38, 40 and 46 and system 26, somefunctions performed at such sites 38, 40 and 46 and by system 26. Morespecifically, with respect to system 26, car configuration master fileswhich include a base description, an options description anddescriptions of other information pertinent to particular cars, aremaintained by system 26. System 26 also maintains specific accountsrelated to dealers, buyers and institutions that use system 26. Certainactivities also are tracked, for example, for buyer inquiries, offersand special requests, by system 26. Further, dealer price offer activityand specific price offers are maintained within databases in system 26.

With respect to buyer sites 38, at such sites, a potential buyer may,via personal computer and modem 42A-B, enter commands to cause system 26to execute routines to enable such buyer to review pricing, make offers,special requests and accept a dealer offer. At dealer sites 40, dealersmay, via personal computer and modern 44A-B, enter commands to causesystem 26 to execute routines to enable such dealer to, by a mass uploadto system 26 or by exception, maintain offers by base model and optionsin databases of system 26. In addition, dealers may respond to specificbuyer acceptances and special requests communicated to dealer sites 40from buyer sites 38 via system 26. The manner in which certain functionsare executed by a system 26 is described hereinafter in more detail.

At institution sites 46, institutions may provide pricing service forcustomers, such as providing, via system 26, information regardingloans. Such institutions may also maintain, in file server 50,information regarding individual accounts and offers.

Car configuration services 56 may provide data to system 26 related toparticular car makes and models. In this manner, system 26 maycompliment existing services which provide, on-line, car configurationinformation.

FIG. 3 illustrates various types of information stored in databases 30Band 34A-E of exchange system 26. No particular hierarchy is intended tobe expressed or implied by the arrows shown in FIG. 3. Rather, sucharrows are only intended to facilitate an understanding of such data andthe interrelationships. Further, it should be understood that althoughspecific databases are referred to, the data in any one of the databasesmay be distributed or combined in many different configurations withdata from other databases. Therefore, the database configurationillustrated in FIG. 3 and described below is provided primarily tofacilitate an understanding of system 26, and should not be construed asa limitation of system 26.

Referring specifically to FIG. 3, in configurations database 30B,information regarding new cars is stored. Such information includes, foreach designated car, make, model, style and options information. Suchinformation typically provides a detailed description of each particularcar. Note that although information regarding a particular car may bestored in configurations database 30B, a particular dealer may not havemade a specific offer for that specific configuration. Therefore, datastored in configurations database 30B may not necessarily matchinformation stored in offers to sell database 34D.

With respect to offers to sell database 34D, information such as anidentification of the dealer making an offer, the dealer region, andpricing information by make/model, style and options is stored. Suchinformation identifies, by dealers having specific geographic sellinglocations, offers to sell certain cars.

In price inquiries database 34A, information related to potential buyerinquiries is stored. Such information includes an identification of eachbuyer, by identification number, who makes an inquiry to offers to selldatabase 34D, the buyer's geographic region, and the car make/model,style and options which were the subject of the buyer inquiry.

Buyer offers and special request database 34B is utilized by system 26for storing information related to offers made by buyers and specialrequests made by potential buyers, via system 26, to a dealer. Forexample, a buyer may request: an updated price offer based an a uniqueselection of options. For each such buyer offer and special request,buyer and dealer identifications, geographic region, and make/model,style and options information is stored in database 34B.

System 26 stores, in accepted offers database 34C and for each offeraccepted via system 26, an identification of the buyer and dealer and anoffer number, which is assigned to the accepted offer by system 26. Suchinformation may be used, for example, for billing purposes.

With respect to administration database 34E, information related todealer accounts, buyer accounts, and geographic locations for buyers anddealers is stored. Also, institution accounts, transactions logs, systembilling, and accounts receivable information is stored in such database34E.

As pointed out above, the specific architecture and structure ofdatabases 30B and 34A-E may, of course, vary and is not limited to thespecific structure illustrated in FIG. 3. In addition, althoughdatabases 30B and 34A-E are shown as being separate, such databasescould be consolidated or distributed in many other configurations.Further, information in addition to the specific data described abovecould be stored in, and form a part of, such databases.

FIG. 4 illustrates functions 100 performed by exchange system 26.Functions 100 are illustrated in a logic diagram form. However, itshould be understood that such functions 100 could be performed in anysequence, in a distributed manner, or in parallel, and no specificexecution order is intended, expressed or implied, by such flow. Also,any one of the functions illustrated in FIG. 4 could be performedwithout necessarily performing, within a certain time limitation, any ofthe other functions.

Referring now particularly to FIG. 4, upon initialization 102 of system26, functions performed by system 26 include maintaining dealer, buyerand institution accounts 104, maintaining new car configuration masters106, and maintaining price offers by dealers by make, model, style andoptions 108. Such maintenance functions are described hereinafter inmore detail and generally require maintaining current information in thevarious databases of system 26.

Exchange system 26 also validates price offers 110. For example, once adealer at a dealer site 40 communicates a specific offer to sell a car,system 26, prior to loading such offer in database 34D, displays theinformation which is the subject of the offer to the dealer. If theinformation is correct, the dealer enters a command on computer 44A, forexample, and system 26 then loads the validated information intodatabase 34D.

System 26 also is configured to determine, upon receiving a buyercommand, a low market price 110 for a selected specific configurationwithin a designated geographic region. Particularly, a potential buyerat a buyer site 38 may want to place a specific “offer to buy” oridentify a specific desired car configuration and a particulargeographic region in which such buyer would be willing to travel withinto obtain a car. Such information is then loaded into computer 42A, forexample, through a graphical user interface. Such information is tentransmitted to system 26. Using such inputted information, offers tosell database 34D is scanned to identify matches for the selected carconfiguration offered for sale in the selected geographic region. Theselling prices are then compared for such matches, and the lowestselling price is then caused to be displayed by system 26 at computer42A. Exchange system 26 also enables, upon receipt of a buyer command, abuyer to review dealer price offers 112 for a variety of cars.

If a buyer desires to make an offer or a special request of a dealer,such requests may be made to a dealer 114 through system 26. Exchangesystem 26 also enables a buyer to review and update pricing inquiries116, and if a buyer accepts a dealer offer via system 26, system 26generates a buyer acceptance notification 118.

With respect to offers to buy and special requests 114, exchange system26 communicates such offers and requests to the buyer designated dealerand enables such dealer to respond to the offer or request via system26. If a dealer response to a special request is acceptable, the buyermay accept the dealer's offer and system 26 will generate acceptancenotification 118. Exchange 26 also generates, for the dealer, anotification of offer acceptance 122. Of course, if a dealer accepts anoffer to buy 114, exchange 26 generates a notification of the dealeracceptance.

Administration tasks performed by system 26 generate data to be storedin administration database 38 (FIG. 1). More specifically, and as shownin FIG. 5, system 26 monitors account activity and data 124, managesdeposits and credits 126, maintains account billings and collections 128and performs periodic backup and file storage operations 130. Datarelated to such activities is loaded in administration database 30A andmay later be utilized, for example, to generate buyer and dealer billingfor access and use of system 26.

FIG. 6 illustrates a sequence of process steps 150 executed inconnection with performing a buyer sign-on 152 to exchange 26.Specifically, to perform a sign-on 152 at a buyer site 38 (FIG. 1),personal computer 42A, for example, first accesses network 22 via anon-line service 154 such as CompuServe. A link 156 is establishedthrough communications network 22 with system 26. System 26 thenrequests buyer identification information to determine whether thespecific user is a first-time potential buyer 158. If the buyer is afirst time user, then buyer information is added 160 to theadministration database 30A. System 26 then validates the buyer'sentries 162, for example, by displaying such entries to the buyer atcomputer 42A. If all the entries are not correct 164, then the buyer mayedit such entries. Otherwise, if the entries have been correctlyentered, system 26 acknowledges proper access by the buyer and displaysa menu 166 at personal computer 42A, for example. If the buyer is not afirst-time buyer, operations would proceed directly to acknowledging thebuyer and displaying a menu 166.

The menu displayed to a buyer, for example, is a graphical userinterface which enables the buyer to select from various options such asshopping 168, offers 170, and account 172. Once the buyer has selectedan option, system 26 responds to such selection. For example, if thebuyer selects “shopping” 168, since this service is not executed bysystem 26, system 26 prompts the buyer to logoff system 26. On the otherhand, if the buyer selects “offers” 170, then system 26 executes thesequence of process steps associated with reviewing dealer price offers176. If the user selects account 172, then system 26 will cause accountactivity 178 for the subject buyer to be displayed at the buyer'scomputer.

FIG. 7 illustrates a sequence of process steps 200 associated with adealer sign-on operation 202. Specifically, a dealer accesses system 26through a personal computer and modem configuration 44A, for example,through branch 24B of network 22. A communications link is thencompleted with system 26. Once a dealer has accessed system 26, system26 determines whether the particular dealer is a new dealer to thesystem 204. Such a determination is made, for example, by checking theadministration database 30A for the dealer identification.

If the dealer is a new dealer to system 26, then the dealer is promptedto enter name, address, contact, telephone and fax information 206.System 26 then assigns the dealer an identification number and an SMSAregion 208. System 26 also sets all account balances for the dealer tozero 210 and adds the dealer account 212 to administration database 30A.Once such an account is established, the dealer may update the dealeraccount master information 214 stored in administration database 30A.

If the dealer is not a new dealer 204, then system 26 will prompt thedealer and request entry of new or updated data 216. A dealer may updateinformation in any and all fields for information stored by system 26with respect to such dealer 218. Once such data has been entered, thensystem 26 updates the account master for the dealer 214 stored inadministration database 30A. Once all such information has been enteredand stored by system 26, all the updated account information is caused,by system 26, to be displayed at personal computer 44A, for example, toenable the dealer to review such information and to ensure itscorrectness 216.

FIG. 8 illustrates a sequence of process steps 250 executed by system 26to perform a batch update 252 of all car configuration data stored inconfiguration database 30B. Particularly, process steps 250 would beexecuted by system 26 on a weekly or some other regular basis. Suchupdate would be performed to ensure that all new master files related tocars being offered through system 26 have been updated and saved in anappropriate manner.

Referring to process 250 in more detail, system 26 first reads/uploadsthe latest source file configurations from configurations database 30B.System 26 also may read/upload configurations from other sources such asthird party configuration sources 56. Once such configurations areuploaded into active memory of system 26, then the newly entered carconfigurations since the last batch update, which may be stored in abuffer memory, are compared with the existing configurations inconfigurations database 30B at step 256. If for any particular carconfiguration such configuration does not exist in configurationdatabase 30B, a new record is created for such new car configuration 258and the new record is added to the other records which will be stored inconfigurations database 30B. If the car configuration is already storedin configurations database 30B, then operations proceed to block 260,where all information is updated 260 by copying all records in activememory of system 26 to configurations data base 30B. Such updatedinformation in configurations database 30B forms the new master, recordswhich may be accessed by both buyers and dealers as described above.

FIG. 9 illustrates a sequence of process steps 300 which would beperformed by dealer at a dealer site 40 on a personal computer and modemconfiguration 44A, for example, to enter an offer into system 26. Morespecifically, once a dealer at a dealer site 40 has initialized 302system 26, system 26 prompts 304 such dealer as to whether such dealerwould like to update dealer data stored in the various databases ofsystem 26. System 26 then merges 306 information from car configurationsdatabase 30B for the most recently updated master records and from theoffers to sell database 34D. Such information is merged by system 26 toform an integrated new record for an interim dealer's offer file at site40 displayed at computer 44A. If the dealer determines to update orcreate new records, the dealer may modify the records as displayed andupon completion of such updating, the new/updated records are loaded toform an updated offers to sell database 34D. The dealer at the dealersite 40 also is prompted by system 26 as to whether such dealer wouldlike to update the offers to sell database 34D for the dealer's recordsby exception 308. If a dealer does desire to update such offers byexception, then such dealer may update specific information, such aspricing information, by a selected amount or percentage 310. Suchupdated information is stored in the interim file and may subsequentlybe loaded into database 34D by system 26 at step 318.

If a dealer does not desire to update such offers by exception, thedealer is then prompted by system 26 as to whether such dealer woulddesire to update the pricing information for each configuration by afixed amount or percentage 312. If a dealer would like to perform suchan update, the dealer may indicate the general dollar amount mark-up orpercentage over factory invoice at 314. Again, such updated informationis stored in the interim file and may subsequently be loaded intodatabase 34D by system 26.

If the dealer does not desire to perform any such updates, or once suchupdates have been completed via step 318, then system 26 causes thedisplay at dealer site 40 to indicate that the price offer databaseupdate has been completed 316.

Administration database 30A is then updated with new account balancesfor the dealer performed functions 320. The dealer could, of course,have a price offer report printed-out at dealer site 40. If the dealerselects to have such information printed, then the price offer report isprinted-out at the dealer site 40 from the updated records in offer tosell database 34D for that dealer by make, model, options and style.

Internally within system 26, and for current records within offers tosell database 34D for each car configurations, such records may besorted by configuration to identify and store such information by lowestoffer first. Such information may be stored in database 34D for alloffers to sell in this manner.

FIG. 10 illustrates a sequence of process steps 350 associated withenabling a buyer at buyer site 38 to make an offer to buy in a selectedgeographic region or a special request to a specific dealer at a dealersite 40 via exchange system 26. Such operations are referred to as anoffer to buy or a special dealer request. Particularly, once a buyeraccesses 352 system 26 at a buyer site 38, the buyer sign-on process isexecuted as illustrated in FIG. 6 as process 150. Through such sequenceof process steps, buyer information may be reviewed and revised 352 fromadministration database 30A.

The buyer may then enter and select a make, model, options and style ofcar which the buyer desires to purchase 354. The buyer then selectswhether to make an “offer to buy” or a “request” 358. If the buyerdesires to make an offer to buy, then the buyer enters and validates thespecific car configuration related to the offer 360. Once suchconfiguration information is entered, the buyer then enters the price362 and selected geographic regions 364. Exchange system 26 thenreceives this information and sends an offers message to dealers withinthe selected geographic region 366 and updates offers to buy/specialrequest database 34B.

If the buyers desires to make a request 358, then the buyer enters andvalidates the car configuration data related to the request 370, entersspecial options 372, and selects a specific dealer from the accountmaster in database 30A of system 26. Exchange system 26 then receivesthe special requests, transmits the request to the specified dealer andupdates the special requests database 34B with a copy of the subjectrequest. The message may be stored, for example, at the personalcomputer 44A at the selected dealer site 40 and the message may bestored in an E-mail location specified by the dealer.

FIG. 11 illustrates a sequence of process steps 400 which would beexecuted by system 26 in connection with a buyer accepting a dealeroffer from the offers stored in offer to sell database 34D.Particularly, a buyer at a buyer site 38, on a personal computer 42A,for example, accesses 402 system 26 and indicates whether the buyerwants to review existing dealer offers by configuration 404. If thebuyer wants to review such existing configuration and price selections,then such information is obtained from the offers to sell database 34Dand from any dealer responses in special requests database 34B, and suchinformation is displayed to the potential buyer at step 406.

The buyer may add, change or delete a particular car configuration asindicated at a step 408. Specifically, if a buyer selects or desires todelete a particular configuration, the make, model, option and stylewould be deleted from the buyer's price inquiries which are stored inthe price inquiries database 34A into the local memory of personalcomputer 42A.

Once a buyer has selected a particular configuration which the buyerdesires to have pricing information on, system 26 first determineswhether such a configuration is a valid configuration 410. Such adetermination is made, for example, by comparing the selectedconfiguration with the configurations stored in configurations database30B. If the configuration is not valid, then operations return to step408 in which a buyer may select a different configuration.

If the configuration is valid, operations proceed to step 412 in whichfor the particular configurations selected, the prices are obtained bysystem 26 from the offer to sell database 34D and such information isadded to the particular configuration information currently then beingdisplayed at personal computer 34A and are added to the price inquirydatabase 34A. If, upon the buyer's review, there is at least one offerwhich is acceptable 414, system 26 validates acceptance of the offer byrechecking the data and ensuring that the offer to sell from offer tosell database 34D is still current 420. If such information isvalidated, then the accepted offer information is stored in acceptedoffers database 34C and for the particular dealer and buyer, the accountbalances are updated 422 and stored in a buyer's accounts transactionlog in system 26. If no offers are acceptable 414, processing proceedsdirectly to step 422.

FIG. 12 illustrates a sequence of process steps 450 executed by system26 in connection with the dealer and buyer introduction process 452.Particularly, once a buyer has accepted an offer in accordance with thesequence of steps 400 as illustrated in FIG. 11, the dealer that madethe offer is informed of such acceptance by system 26 and mayacknowledge, via personal computer 44A at dealer site 40, for example,the particular acceptance of the offer or a special request as stored inaccepted offers database 34C and special request database 34B, asindicated at step 454.

Once the dealer receives information regarding such an acceptance as setforth in step 454, then the dealer may make contact with the potentialbuyer 456 via E-mail, telephone or even through system 26. If thetransaction is concluded between the buyer and the dealer, then acceptedoffers database 34C is updated by the dealer at dealer site 40 andsystem 26 at step 458. System 26 then executes administrative tasks withdatabase 30A as indicated at 460 and the dealer account, buyer account,transaction log is updated in administration database 30A. The abovedescribed system 26 enables a potential car purchaser to easily andquickly review all options, factory discounts and other informationregarding specific car configurations of interest in combination withfinal pricing information for cars in a particular geographic region.System 26 also eliminates the car purchase negotiation process byenabling a potential car purchaser to ascertain the best price for aparticular car and to “lock in” to a specific dealer offer via thesystem without having to make prior direct contact with a particulardealer.

From the preceding description of an embodiment of the presentinvention, it is evident that the objects of the invention are attained.Although the invention has been described and illustrated in detail, itis to be clearly understood that the same is intended by way ofillustration and example only and is not to be taken by way oflimitation. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of the invention are to belimited only by the terms of the appended claims.

1-26. (canceled)
 27. A method for operating an electronic productexchange comprising: (a) accepting, and storing in a single, firstdatabase, from each of a multitude of potential sellers, through agenerally available wide area network, pricing data and productconfiguration data for a multitude of different products for sale by themultitude of potential sellers; (b) accepting through the generallyavailable wide area network, from personal computers of each of amultitude of potential buyers, requests containing select productconfiguration data; (c) responsive to each of said requests, searchingthe first computer database for those products of the multitude thatmatch the select product configuration data of the request andautomatically transferring the pricing data and product configurationdata of the matching products through the wide area network to thepersonal computer of the potential buyer who made the request; and (d)accepting purchase orders over the wide area network from the personalcomputer of a potential buyer, and responsive thereto, automaticallyrecording buyer identification data, seller identification data, price,and product configuration data in a second computer database.
 28. Themethod of claim 27 wherein part (b) comprises searching a computerdatabase containing the pricing data and product configuration data. 29.The method of claim 28 wherein the computer database stores the data inprice-ordered categories.
 30. The method of claim 27 wherein acceptingthe pricing data and product configuration data comprises allowing thepotential sellers to upload the data through the network to the computerdatabase at will.
 31. The method of claim 27 wherein the wide areanetwork is the Internet.
 32. The method of claim 27 further comprisingautomatically generating a bill for a fee for each purchase order forwhich information is recorded in the second database.
 33. The method ofclaim 27 wherein part (a) also includes accepting geographic data foreach of the potential sellers, wherein part (b) also includes acceptingspecifications of one of several geographic regions, and wherein part(c) also includes limiting matching products to those products in thegeographic region specified by the potential buyer.
 34. The method ofclaim 27 wherein accepting product configuration data includes acceptinginformation concerning the products' brand, style, or make.
 35. Themethod of claim 34 wherein accepting product configuration data alsoincludes accepting information concerning the products' color choices,options, or feature choices.
 36. A method for implementing an electronicproduct exchange comprising: (a) making accessible through a generallyavailable wide area network a first computer database containing pricingdata and product configuration data for a multitude of differentproducts for sale by a multitude of potential sellers; (b) makingaccessible through the network a processor capable of receiving acommand from personal computers of a multitude of potential buyerscoupled to the network, which processor is capable of: (1) searching thefirst computer database for those products of the multitude that match arequest containing select product configuration data transmitted throughthe wide area network by one of the potential buyers, and (2)automatically transferring the pricing data and product configurationdata of the matching products through the wide area network to thepersonal computer of the potential buyer who made the request; and (c)automatically recording in a second computer database buyeridentification data, seller identification data, price, and productconfiguration data in response to purchase orders transmitted over thenetwork from the personal computer of a potential buyer.
 37. The methodof claim 36 further comprising configuring the first computer databaseso that each of the potential sellers can perform a mass upload at willof the pricing data and product configuration data for products beingoffered by each such potential seller.
 38. The method of claim 36further comprising coupling to the second computer database an automatedbilling system capable of automatically generating a bill for a fee foreach purchase order transmitted over the network from the personalcomputer of a potential buyer.
 39. The method of claim 36 wherein thewide area network is the Internet.
 40. An electronic product exchangesystem comprising: (a) a file server accessible through a generallyavailable wide area network: (1) from personal computers of a multitudeof potential buyers coupled to the network, and (2) by a multitude ofpotential sellers; (b) a first computer database, accessible to the fileserver, containing pricing and product configuration data for amultitude of different products for sale; (c) a processor coupled to thefile server and capable of: (1) searching the first computer databasefor those products of the multitude that match a request containingselect product configuration data transmitted through the wide areanetwork by one of the potential buyers, and (2) automaticallytransferring the pricing data and product configuration data of thematching products through the wide area network to the personal computerof the potential buyer who made the request; and (d) a second computerdatabase coupled to the file server and capable of automaticallyrecording buyer identification data, seller identification data, price,and product configuration data in response to purchase orderstransmitted over the wide area network to the file server from thepersonal computer of a potential buyer.
 41. The system of claim 40further comprising an automated billing system capable of automaticallygenerating a bill for a fee for each purchase order transmitted over thewide area network to the file server from the personal computer of apotential buyer.
 42. The system of claim 40 further comprising a selleridentification database.
 43. The system of claim 40 wherein thepotential sellers can upload to the file server at will the pricing dataand product configuration data for products being offered by thepotential sellers.
 44. The system of claim 40 wherein each potentialseller can perform a mass upload to the file server of pricing data andproduct configuration data for all products of that potential seller.45. The system of claim 40 further comprising a network link between thefile server and financial institutions.
 46. The system of claim 40wherein the wide area network is the Internet.
 47. The system of claim40 wherein the product configuration data includes informationconcerning the products' brand, style, or make.
 48. The system of claim47 wherein the product configuration data also includes informationconcerning the products' color choices, options, or feature choices. 49.The system of claim 40 wherein the first computer database stores thedata in price-ordered categories.
 50. The system of claim 40: (a)wherein the wide area network is the Internet; (b) wherein the potentialsellers can upload to the file server at will the pricing data andproduct configuration data for products being offered by the potentialsellers; and (c) further comprising an automated billing system capableof automatically generating a bill for a fee for each purchase ordertransmitted over the wide area network to the file server from thepersonal computer of a potential buyer.